


Changelings

by Joan963z



Series: The Purchase [2]
Category: NCIS, The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-06 02:24:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17931035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joan963z/pseuds/Joan963z
Summary: Jim knew something was wrong with the bond so he tried to fix it. OOPS! Blair runs. Jim turns to the only person he trusts, Gibbs, for help, but Gibbs has his own agenda. Will friendship or the hidden agenda win out?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:All publicly recognizable characters are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I am only keeping the fandom alive in our hearts

Blair sat in the truck with his hands clamped tightly to his ears; Jim knew how to drive the truck but he didn’t. Accessing the Sentinel’s memories was slow, as if he were learning a new skill, and the sound of the grinding transmission still vibrated in his head, making it impossible to hook his consciousness up to the information he needed. The pain that had come with the sound surprised him. He chided himself as he attempted to turn down his sensory dials. He should have been prepared; he was a Guide, he knew the stress that hyper senses caused to Sentinels. But the reality of actually hearing, with living ears, instead of with his empathic mind, was quite different. He tried again to turn down his hearing, instead pin pricks of pain traveled over his body as all the nerves in his skin fired. He doubled his hand into a fist and pounded the steering wheel in frustration. A wave of pain traveled up his arm and into his shoulder causing him to grit his teeth against it. He looked over at the building, Jim would be coming out soon, he had to get away. There was no point in making it easy for the Sentinel to follow him, so he grabbed the keys out of the ignition and ran.

Jim came to slowly and stretched out his arm only to find empty bed beside him. “Chief,” he called. “It’s okay.” He swung his feet out of bed and sat up looking for his pants. They weren’t where he thought he left them. He scowled and stood up; it wasn’t important now. The only thing that was important was calming his frightened Guide. He could feel his Guides fear vibrating through him in a way he had never felt it before. “Chief,” he called again. “I’m not angry,” he said, as he made his way to the loft stairs. His eyes were behaving weirdly and everything beyond 3 feet was a blur of color. He tried to turn up his sight dial but nothing happened. “Overload,” he muttered to himself and walked down the stairs. “Come out, Blair. I’m not going to punish you or send you back to River Island.” The living room was empty. “Just come out now, we’ll take a nice warm shower.” Jim tried to turn up his hearing, so he could listen for Blair’s heart beat, but that dial wasn’t working either. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, Guide,” Jim call out as he looked into the exercise room under the stairs, it was empty. “I know it felt a little weird at the end, but Gibbs explained it to me. He called it rebound. It’s part of a strong bond.”

Jim made his way to the kitchen. He looked under the table and in the cupboard under the sink. There were only two more places the Guide could be the coat closet was empty so Jim made his way to the bathroom. The obvious place to hide was in the shower, when that was empty Jim turned to the linen closet. But all that he found in there was towels and sheets. Jim scowled, “Blair, enough of this,” he yelled, brushing away a persistent tickle on the side of his face, only to have his fingers tangle in a thick layer of curly hair. “What the hell…” Jim turned to the mirror, leaning in to bring the image into focus. It was Blair’s face looking back at him.

Bile rose up in Jim’s throat. He grabbed the sink and leaned over as a wave of panic hit him. He turned on the cold water and splashed it on his face, pushing the panic away and making himself think. ‘This can’t be. It has to be some kind of weird rebound. Come on Ellison get a hold of yourself.’ He lifted his head willing himself to see what was really in the mirror not some guilt ridden aberration. But it was still Blair’s face that looked back at him. He lifted his hand and touched his Guide's cheek. He tried to match the feel to his patterned memory and found there was no memory. He took a lock of the thick, curly, silken, strands of hair and closed his eyes. He searched frantically for the pattern of Blair’s hair, but it was missing too. It wasn’t that he couldn’t remember, but the memory was a common memory. Like the way you remember velvet is soft and a rock is hard. The Bond Pattern was missing from his mind. Suddenly he felt very naked; he decided the first order of business was to get dressed. When he got upstairs he opened his closet door and pulled a pair of jeans off the hanger, but when he pulled them on they didn’t fit. He swore, throwing the jeans to the floor as he realized he would have to wear Blair’s cloths. He walked around the bed, avoiding looking at himself in the mirror, and pulled a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt out of the drawer and slipped them on. 

When he got back down stairs he checked the table by the door. His wallet, truck keys, and cell phone were gone. Blair must have taken them and left. Well he couldn’t go out and hunt for his Guide, not if Blair had the truck. He would need help. There were only two people that he trusted enough to ask, Captain Banks and Gibbs.

Banks was closer but Jim couldn’t risk letting what had happened get out at the station, and no matter how quiet the Captain tried to keep it, the risk that his co-workers would find out was too great. They would think he was insane and that was not a risk Jim was willing to take. That left Gibbs. Jim went over to the phone and dialed.

***

The called ID told Gibbs that it was Jim calling. “Hey, Jim,” he said when he picked up the phone.

“I’m in trouble,” Jim blurted out before Gibbs could say anything else.

“Blair? What’s wrong? Is Jim hurt?”

“I need you Buddy, how fast can you get here?” Jim asked.

Gibbs’ gut churned, something was wrong. It was Blair’s voice he was hearing but the speech pattern was Jim’s; no Guide would talk to a Sentinel like that, especially one he wasn’t bound to.

“Your conditioning is broken,” Gibbs said; it was a statement not a question. “What’s going on Guide?”

“More than broken conditioning,” Jim told his friend. “How fast can you get here?”

“Give me an hour,” Gibbs said and hung up the phone.

“Grab your coat,” he said to Tony. “We’re going to Cascade.”

***

The drive to Cascade was ordinarily just under 2 hours; that is if you stuck to the speed limit. Gibbs didn’t. He put his police light on the roof of his car and as soon as he got onto the highway he floored it. True to his word he was knocking at the loft door one hour after he hung up from the phone call.

Jim opened the door to the loft and let in Gibbs and Tony.

“Where’s Jim?” Gibbs asked before Blair’s body had a chance to close the door.

Jim exhaled and closed and locked the door before answering. “I am Jim; there was some kind of weird rebound when I claimed Blair. We switched bodies.”

“Cool,” Tony said. “Gibbs had a gut feeling…”

Gibbs whacked Tony on the back of the head causing the Guide to stop in mid-sentence.

Jim glared at his friend. “You knew something like this could happen and you didn’t warn me?”

“I don’t know that anything has happened,” Gibbs said. “Do you really expect me to believe that you’ve switched bodies with your Sentinel?”

“I switched bodies with my Guide,” Jim corrected, “and now he’s gone. He took my wallet, my truck and my cell phone. We have to get him back Gibbs, we have to fix this.”

“If it can be fixed,” Tony muttered under his breath.

“Shut up Tony,” Gibbs said.

“What did he say?” Jim asked, squinting at Tony to bring him into focus.

“Are all you senses at human normal?” Gibbs asked.

“All except my eyesight. Blair needs glasses; I don’t know how he could function like this. He should have told me his eyesight was this bad.”

“He was conditioned not to ask for anything,” Tony said, “and Sentinels like to keep their Guides at a disadvantage.”

Jim looked at Gibbs, “Why are you letting your Guide talk to me like that? Why are you letting him talk to me at all? We need to find Blair. You can have NCIS put a BOLO out on my truck.”

“Your truck’s still in the parking lot,” Gibbs said, deciding that the person in front of him was Jim even if the body wasn’t. “That means Blair’s on foot; by now he could be anywhere in the city. He’s never been on his own so he won’t know not to use your credit cards or cell phone. When he uses them we’ll find him.”

@@@@@@@@@@

Blair ran until he came to the busy downtown shopping area of Cascade. He had to stop then to avoid being stared at by shoppers. He didn’t like being noticed so he slipped into a bookstore. To his surprise the place not only smelled of books but had a wonderful scent of hot coffee and warm muffins. He followed the scent to the back of the store and discovered a small sitting area populated by tiny tables for two with comfortable chairs. Fake Fichus Trees, strategically placed between the tables, gave the illusion of privacy without blocking the natural light that flowed through the window. A few customers sat by the window browsing through books and sipping coffee.

Blair stood blinking a moment. He wasn’t accustomed to this kind of unconcerned relaxation. Sentinels were notorious multi-taskers. Even when relaxing, watching “the game” on TV, they were feeding their hyper senses by scanning for any danger signals or stroking their Guide. As for bonded Guides…well they were always on duty, ever vigilant and ready to serve their Sentinel’s needs.

Something in the window flickered and Blair’s attention turned from the readers and focused on the flicker of bright white and mini rainbows as the sun glinted off the ocean a mile away. It was beautiful, watching the dance of light.

“Sentinel!” a harsh voice interrupted.

Blair was unwilling to stop watching the light show. There was a pattern, just out of reach, all he needed was a few more seconds and he would have it. He turned his head slightly, not enough to lose sight of the light show but enough to growl at the store manager that had interrupted him, then turned back to watching the glimmer outside the window.

“Did he just growl?” A male customer asked. “That’s not a good sign. I’ve heard stories of Sentinels going rogue and killing everything in sight. I’m getting out of here.”

“You should call the police or an ambulance,” a young woman said, grabbing her 5 year old by the hand and following, what had become a line of customers, out the front door.

It was a clerk taking matters into her own hands and closing the window shade that finally snapped Blair from his zone out.

Blair squinted and looked around, distracted for a moment as his mind came back to reality.

The store manager did not want to mention what had just happened. Sentinels considered zone outs a weakness and no mundane in their right mind spoke of them to Sentinels. So he simply cleared his throat and spoke of other things.

“The section about Sentinel’s is right this way,” he said lifting his arm to show the way when Blair turned toward his voice. “We have a full selection on choosing a Guide and the Sentinel/Guide bond.”

“The bond, yes,” Blair said quickly recovering. “That would be very helpful.”

When Blair got to the section with Sentinel books it was not as full as he hoped it would be. There were 2 shelves 4 feet wide filled with books but many titles had 4 or 5 copies displayed for sale. Blair scanned the shelves, grateful that reading was part of Guide training. He pulled out books with promising titles and opened them to the table of contents. There was nothing new in any of them. All that the books contained were rehashed and repackaged information, the same information that he had received in Guide Training.

Frustrated, he turned to leave. As he walked to the exit he noticed a large display of books. The title caught his eye, “The Ancient Sentinel”. The jacket had a colorful drawing of a pair of South American Indians. The taller of the two held a spear. His muscles seemed tense as he scanned the horizon. The other was shorter but just as well muscled. Blair knew instinctively that they were Sentinel and Guide. Above them in the sky the clouds formed ghostly faces of a jaguar and a wolf.

Blair turned to the clerk. “Why isn’t this book with the other Sentinel books?” he asked.

“The book is fiction,” the clerk answered. “It was written by a doctor of archaeology; the guy writes a great story but he’s a quack. He claims to have found hieroglyphic evidence that tribal cultures of the Americas had Sentinels and that the white man killed most of them off and drove the survivors into the deep jungle. He claims he couldn’t get his research published in the academic world so he wrote it as fiction.”

“Claims?” Blair asked.

“The good doctor is crazy like a fox,” the clerk said. “The book is a best seller; he is going to make a lot more money then he would of if he published in academia.”

"Have you read it?" Blair asked as he opened the cover and scanned the jacket flap.

"I'm about halfway through," the clerk answered. "It really is a good read, if you don't mind all the hocus-pocus."

Blair looked at the clerk, his interest suddenly peeked. "What do you mean by hocus-pocus?"

"The doc claims that the bond between the ancient Sentinels and their Guides was spiritual not just physical," the clerk said with a shrug of his shoulders. He talks about animal spirit Guides and the Sentinel being able to see through the Guides eyes; nonsense if you take it literally but a good read nonetheless."

"I'll take it," Blair said as he turned toward the register. With any luck this book could give him some answers. When he opened Jim's wallet there wasn't much cash inside so he paid with a credit card. "Is there an ATM around here?" Blair asked.

"There's a bank, two doors down across the street."

******

"That was McGee," Gibbs said, as he snapped his cell phone closed and slipped it back in his pocket. "Blair just used your credit card in a bookstore on Water Street and less then five minutes later he withdrew two hundred dollars from an ATM. Lets go."

"What the hell is he doing down there?" Jim grumbled as he put on Blair's coat. "Water street leads to the docks. Do you think he's trying to buy passage on a freighter?"

"I doubt that he would know enough to do that," Tony said. "Blair isn't exactly knowledgeable about the world."

“Whatever else Blair’s doing he’s getting further away the longer we chat," Gibbs said, "and I’ve found that Guides can surprise you, so I’m not ruling anything out.”

With that Gibbs turned and walked out of the apartment, leaving Tony scurrying along behind.

When they got to the car Jim opened the front door and started to get in.

"Hey!" Tony yelped, "You can't sit in the front, Gibbs is my Sentinel."

Jim glared at Tony, his poor vision was giving him a headache and the constant worry about his Guide wasn’t helping. "News flash," he said rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I'm a Sentinel too."

Gibbs cleared his throat and looked over the roof of the car at his friend, "Jim," he said quietly but firmly, "Tony's right, you’re in a Guide's body, you have to sit in the back. Please, Jim, let’s not waste anymore time, get in the back."

Jim knew there was no point in arguing with Gibbs. "This stinks, and you know it," he grumbled as he climbed into the back of the car.

"Welcome to a Guide’s world," Tony whispered.

Once they arrived at the bookstore Jim was surprised to witness Gibbs letting Tony go and interview the sales clerk, but at Jim’s questioning look he was simply informed that. “Sometimes Guides surprise you”. Although Gibbs still let out a small growl when the sales girl leaned in towards Tony and stroked his arm.

As soon as Tony returned to the group Gibbs slapped the back of his head.

“What was….?” asked Tony, in surprise before he read the look on Gibbs’ face that told him clearly that the Sentinel had seen the sales girl touch him. “Sorry Boss” said Tony in a voice that indicated he was not the least bit sorry at all.

Jim watched the exchange curiously, and his expression turned to one of complete confusion when Tony leaned in and confided to him in a whisper “The day he works out his punishments really aren’t punishments, I’m going to have to find a new tactic”.

At that moment Jim realized that the relationship between Gibbs and Tony wasn’t that of, what he considered to be, a normal Sentinel/Guide relationship, but this was something else, something more. He felt a longing and a mild ache start in his chest. He wanted his body and his Guide back... now.

“Well?” asked Gibbs clearly waiting for Tony's report.

“Tina over there tells me that a Sentinel matching Blair’s…. well Jim's description actually…. Came in, zoned on something out of the window, snapped out of it when she closed the blind, bought a book, asked about an ATM machine, she pointed him towards Water Street and he left.” Tony rattled off.

“What book?” Jim asked

“The Ancient Sentinel” answered Tony and he and Gibbs exchanged a long look that Jim decided he did not want to even try and decipher.

Jim immediately started looking for the same book in the Sentinel section and got slightly agitated when he couldn't find it immediately. Gibbs and Tony watched him for a few moments before Gibbs handed him a copy from the display table.

Jim hugged the book to his chest as he reached into his pocket and found it empty. Remembering that he was now in Blair's body, a Guide carried no money, no credit cards, no nothing; he looked at Gibbs with a slightly panicked look on his face at the thought of having to leave without the book.

Gibbs glared at him took the book from his hands and said “You owe me,” before heading to the checkout to pay.

Jim sighed in relief. He didn’t know why it had suddenly become so important to him to read the same book Blair was reading, he just felt as though at that moment it was the closest he could get to his Guide.

******  
Once Blair arrived at the ATM it took him a moment to access Jim’s pin number. He took $200 the maximum amount the machine would give him. He slipped the money into Jim’s wallet and then it occurred to him he didn’t know where to go next. He knew that he had to find somewhere to get off the street and a place to sleep for the night. That’s when he heard the bus coming, he watched it go by and stop a short ways up the street so he crossed the street, ran up and jumped on. In front of him an elderly lady fumbled with her shopping bags while trying to reach her purse to pay.

Blair grabbed one of the bags before it could spill and then, after paying for his own ticket, helped the old lady to a seat without further incident.

Blair asked her about the area, telling her he had just moved to Cascade and was looking for a place to stay.

Delighted at the prospect of a Sentinel moving into her apartment building, she told him that there were a couple of vacant apartments in her building and she was sure that the super would be glad to get them rented out.

"That sounds wonderful," Blair told her. "Are the apartments furnished?" he asked.

"One of them is," the lady told him. "I'll introduce you to Bill, the super,. I'm sure there won't be any problem with you moving right in.

He smiled and thanked her for her kindness. It looked like things were working up after all.  
***  
TBC

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@


	2. Chapter 2

@@@@@@  
Water Street Bank  
***  
Gibbs held up his NCIS badge to the bank manager. “The ATM card of a missing person was used about half an hour ago on your ATM machine. We need to see your security feed.”

“Certainly, Sentinel Gibbs, This way please.”

The Manager led the group to a backroom with a bank of monitors on the wall. One of them showed a view from the ATM machine. The Manager sat down at a counter with a keyboard. “What time frame would you like to see?” She asked.

“Let’s start twenty minutes ago and work backwards.” Gibbs said.

The manager typed the directions into the computer. “I’ve put the feed on a three second display. If you see anything you want to hold at hit control alt, to go backward in time hit control backspace, to go forward in time hit control tab.”

“Thank you,” Gibbs said and sat down at the counter as the Manager left the room. He hit the backspace button until he got to the photo of Blair. Jim stared at the screen but everything was a soft blur. He was not happy that River Island had not told him about Blair’s eyesight. He certainly would have gotten him glasses. He wondered if there was anything else they failed to tell him.

After getting his money Blair stood on the sidewalk looking around. It was Tony that noticed the bus go by and Blair’s decision to move in the same direction. “He going for the bus.”

“We don’t know that,” Jim said.

“Not for sure,” Gibbs said, “but it’s the best lead we have.” Gibbs printed out a photo of Jim’s face at the ATM. “We’ll go to the bus company and question the drivers on the routes that serve Water Street.”

@@@@@@

The apartment was small. It had a galley kitchen, a living and dining area, a small bedroom and a bathroom with a shower stall. The furniture was old and worn but it would do. The sheets on the bed were inexpensive and scratchy, not soft like the Egyptian cotton sheets Jim had on their bed, but the blanket was soft so Blair decided that he would just sleep on top of the blanket.

As soon as the super left the room Blair curled up on the bed and opened his book. It was a joy to be able to read with the Sentinel's eyes. The story started with a young boy destined to become a sentinel. It told of the shaman telling stories around the campfire. Blair skimmed the parts of the book about the boy and found the chapters about the young Sentinel and how his panther spirit guide helped him to choose a Guide along with the stories the elders told the young Sentinels in training. Blair read the book for hours, until he got hungry. He didn’t have any food in the apartment so he decided he would have to find a takeout place. He didn’t know the area so he knocked on Mrs. Silva’s door, the lady he helped on the bus, and asked her if she could recommend a place close by. She recommended Seaside Pizza three blocks down water street.

@@@@@@

Jim sat in the back of Gibbs’ car as Gibbs cruised along the streets that ran off of Water Street. They had gone to the bus depot to interviewed bus drivers when they returned at end of shift. There was one driver who recognized the Sentinels photo and mentioned that the Sentinel helped a senior citizen with her shopping bags. He also remembered that they got off the bus together three or four stops after getting on. That gave them a area to start looking. Gibbs knew he couldn’t just take Jim back to the loft. Jim would not settle. It was best to keep looking even if it was a long shot to find Blair walking the streets.

Jim was feeling increasingly uneasy. His whole body felt off somehow. He vigorously rubbed his arm but it didn’t help. He gave an involuntary moan and tried rubbing his other arm.

“What’s wrong?” Gibbs asked.

“I don’t know,” Jim said. “My whole body feels weird, uncomfortable.”

Tony looked at Gibbs and sighed. “You’re experiencing Guide Crave.”

“What the hell is Guide Crave?” Jim demanded.

“When a Sentinel chooses a guide and starts touching him the guide becomes addicted to the touch. If the Guide is denied the touch of the Sentinel he feels withdrawal and begins to crave it, Guide Crave.”

“How long does withdrawal last?” Jim asked.

“Until the Sentinel touches the Guide,” Tony told him.

“So I'm going to feel like this until we find Blair?” Jim asked.

“No, not exactly.” Tony told him. “It gets a whole lot worse than feeling weird.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

“No, it’s supposed to be honest.” Tony said letting his annoyance with Jim show in his voice. Sentinels should know these things about Guides. The fact the Jim was more inclined to think Guide Crave was a joke then a real syndrome that Guides actually experienced was… well damn annoying.

“We need to find Blair, ASAP,” Jim said, “before I rub my arms raw.”

“If we don't find him he'll go back to the loft.” Gibbs said.

“Why would he do that?” Jim asked.

“Rebound,” Gibbs told him. “First he’ll feel the same physical discomfort you’re feeling then he'll start having nightmares that he needs to get to his Guide.”

Jim nodded his head. He remembered just how panicked he was when he had the rebound nightmare. He never wanted to go through that again. Not to mention the falling sensation and the feeling of abandonment he got when bonding that had made him punish Blair.

Gibbs phone rang. He was driving so Tony answered and put the phone on speaker.

“Gibbs here,”

“McGee speaking, I just got a notice that Sentinel Ellison’s credit card was used twenty minutes ago at Seaside Pizza on Water Street.”

“Understood.” Gibbs turned the Car around and headed for Seaside Pizza.

@@@@@@

Blair waited in line to order his pizza. He was feeling some annoyance at having to wait in line. The emotion was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. A small voice in the back of his head told him he needed to be with his Guide. Blair decided to ignore it. After all he was free and he intended to stay that way. By the time it was his turn to place his order he had decided on a large veggie pizza and a large bottle of spring water. He figured he could take the leftovers home to eat later. Tomorrow he would have to find a grocery store and make another trip to the ATM. He had had to give most of his cash to the Super as a down payment for the apartment. He also needed to buy some clothes. He couldn’t wear the same cloths much longer. For tonight he would pay by credit card. After getting his receipt he walked to the back of the dining area and took a seat at a table for two while he waited for his order number to be called. Fifteen minutes later he sat at the table enjoying his very own pizza.

@@@@@@

Gibbs parked the car in the Seaside Pizza parking lot. Jim jumped out leaving the back door open. He ran for the entrance. Gibbs shut off the engine and ran after him. He managed to catch him before he got into the eatery.

“Stop it. NOW!” He growled. “You know better than this. You're a Sentinel act like it. We have to secure the exits in case he runs.”

Tony closed the car doors and went to join his Sentinel. “Ahh, Boss, I don't think you should be touching him while he's in Guide Crave.”

Gibbs took another look at his friend. He had grabbed him at the base of his neck and still held him with two fingers making skin-to-skin contact. Jim was definitely leaning into it. He quickly let go and grabbed Jim by his shirt. He couldn't trust that Jim wouldn't break and run again.

Jim made an ugg sound when the Sentinel touch stopped and he was once again abandoned. The small touch from his friend had been an oasis. Now it was gone and the crave, this body's demand for its Sentinel’s touch had returned with increased demand. “I just need my Guide,” Jim said.

“We are going inside and reconnoiter,” Gibbs said. “Can you hold it together Jim?”

“What if he’s in there?” Jim asked.

“We’ll make a plan on how best to recover him.” Gibbs said. “Right now Tony will check the dining area and look for exits. I’ll talk to the cashier.”

@@@@@@

Seaside pizza  
***

Gibbs and Tony sat at a table where they could view both the fire exit and the front exit. There were too many people in the restaurant to make a scene by forcing Blair out the front door. The Sentinel’s body would be feeling the need for his Guide by now so the decision was made to let Jim talk to Blair. Jim walked to the back of the dinning area where Blair sat eating his pizza.

“Hello Guide,” Jim said.

Blair didn’t look at him. He just kept eating his pizza.

“I’m not angry with you,” Jim told him. “Come with me, we’re going home.”

“No,” Blair said without looking up.

“Guide, don’t make me carry you out of here.”

“I’m the Sentinel,” Blair said, “you’re the Guide. I have an ID to prove it. Tell me Guide, what’s rule number one?”

Jim moaned, he had no idea just how cruel he was being with his: Don’t bother the Sentinel rule. “Okay, so I made some mistakes,” Jim said, “I want to do better. Let’s go home and talk about it.”

“Sentinel’s don’t negotiate with Guides.” Blair said. “Go away or I’ll call River Island. They’ll take you back and sell you to a brothel. That is if they don’t kill you because your conditioning broke.”

Jim sat down at the table and leaned in. “You won’t do that.” he whispered. “No matter whose body you’re in you’re still an empath.There’s also the problem of rebound. Anything the Sentinel does to the Guide comes back to the Sentinel. What I went through when I punished you...I never want to go through that again.”

Blair looked at Jim with defiance in his eyes. “That wasn’t punishment, that was torcher.”

“I’m sorry, Jim said. “I didn’t understand. I know now that you were only doing what you were conditioned to do. I broke your conditioning on purpose because I didn’t want a conditioned Guide. I want what we have in the morning and during the day. I know you want that for us too. Please come home.” Jim reached across the table. He needed to touch Blair, but Blair pulled his hand away and put both hands under the table.

“I’m free,” Blair said, “Do you really expect me to give that up so you can put me out to stud and put me on show like an animal?”

“I have Guide Crave,” Jim said. “If you don’t come home with me now you’ll be driven to find me. That could be dangerous, people could get hurt, strangers, anyone that accidentally gets in the way because you need to get to me. Neither of us want that. You don’t want to go rogue. Could you live with yourself if you hurt someone? Please, I need you, and you need me. You must want our bond or you wouldn’t have bought the book about the Ancient Sentinel. Gibbs bought a copy for me. I’ll get you a pair of glasses and we can read it together.”

“You’re assuming we’re going to change back,” Blair said. “Can you accept the way things are now if we don’t change back?”

“I have too,’ Jim said, “Because I can’t live without you.”

“If we do change back,” Blair asked, “will you treat me like a human being? Will you give me the right to say no? Will I still have to obey rule number one?”

“No more being treated like a slave,” Jim said. “You’re a free man, Your right to say no isn’t mine to give or take. It’s your inalienable right as a human being, I won’t try to take it away. You can live in the loft just like a roommate with the same rules for both of us. No more rule number one, no more of the slave rules ever again.”

Blair sat quietly for a moment thinking about what Jim had said. It was true he needed Jim, he could feel it. His Sentinel body felt a strong pull to it’s Guide. “I’ll go home with you,” Blair said, “but I want to go to my apartment first to pick up my book and tell the Super I won’t need the apartment after all.”

“We can do that,” Jim said, “but you’ll have to touch me, I don’t know how much longer I can stand this Guide Crave.”

Blair stood up leaving the Pizza behind. “Longer than you think.” he said.

@@@@@@

The Loft

******

Jim and Blair sat on the sofa still in each others body. I just felt too weird to run up to the loft and bond until they talked things out. They held each other’s hand in an effort to keep the Sentinel’s body stable and to end the Guide Crave Jim was feeling. The touch was working for the physical craving but the emotional pain was not so easily banished.

“I wish I could find words to tell you how sorry I am about hurting you,” Jim said.

“Yeah, you keep saying your sorry, but I wonder what will happen if or when we change back. Right now it’s a matter of trust. According to law the Sentinel owns the Guide. There’s nothing to stop you from returning to being a slave master if you get your body back.”

“There is something to prevent that. Rebound. Everything a Sentinel does to his Guide comes back on the Sentinel.”

“It didn’t seem to bother you when you caused me all that pain when we first bonded. You knew how searing the pain was, you say you felt it too, but you still hurt me. Rebound didn’t stop you then.” Blair stopped talking and sat in silence.

 

Jim knew Blair was right. He had hurt him in what he now knew was a selfish craving for a fast and deep bond.

“Let me tell you of a story I read in the ‘Ancient Sentinel’ It the story of a Sentinel who’s lust for his Guide consumed him. He took everything his Guide had to give and then demanded more. When the Guide had no more to give he killed his Guide and and took another. In his lust he began to ignore his responsibility to protect his village. Again he took all the Guide had to give, and the killed him. The elders of the village tried to talk to the Sentinel, but his lust and conceit had taken him over and he thought of himself as above others. He believed they were not worthy of his protection so he killed all of the people in his village. The story goes on to tell that the lust filled Sentinel went to the temple of the Sentinels he climbed to the top and roared out his victory. He believed he was the Ruler of his world. But his world was empty and he ruled over no one. The story was found carved into the walls of a temple. The author of the book believes that it was a cautionary tale to Sentinels, a warning, of what they could become if they demanded more than a Guide had to give.”

“You have every right to question me and my commitment to you. When I ... “ Jim hesitated hanging his head.

“Purchased me?”

Jim looked up into his own eyes.

Blair’s voice was full of pain when he spoke. “I felt kindness from you when I first saw you. That changed when the doctor suggested a bond through pain.”

Jim sighed and his body trembled. He was not the kind of man that talked about feelings. He had been taught to suck it up and be strong, but he knew if he was going to get Blair to trust him he would have to trust Blair and admit his feelings to his Guide. “I had failed to bond with two Guides. I was afraid, no more than that, I was sure that if I failed to bond again I’d go rogue and have to be put down. It was fear that made me do what I did. I was blinded by it. I didn’t want a conditioned Guide, but after two failures to bond it was my last hope. What’s more important now is to tell you how I feel right this minute. I want us to be more like Gibbs and Tony, partners not master and slave. I want what we had in the shower in the morning. I want what we had in the grocery store. I want what we had in the truck. Your Guide energy flowed like a river and then I turned the corner onto Prospect Street and the flow stopped. I could feel you didn’t pull away from me. But you weren’t flowing anymore. You were like a stagnant pond. It didn’t matter that it was my pond. Your joy was gone. What I learned is that I need that joy. I hated the scent of fear on you. It’s not the kind of Sentinel I want to be. My conscience told me that it was me that was wrong. I couldn’t face it, I shoved the voice telling me I was wrong into a deep dark closet in my mind and slammed the door. That’s why I got so angry when you begged me not to send you back. I could no more send you back than I could send back my right arm. I didn’t know how to make you know that.”

“That’s not something you can force me to know. It’s not something you can tell me. It’s something you needed to show me through your actions and your feelings for me.”

“I’m a Sentinel, that kind of communication isn’t my strong point.” Then something occurred to Jim. “What do you want from our bond?”

The question surprised Blair. He had never been asked what he wanted. “I was taken from my mother when I was a toddler. I barely remember her. I was sent to what’s called a maturation home. You’re never too young to be indoctrinated. It was a constant message that the only reason I was alive was to serve a Sentinel. We learned the history of the wars, that the Sentinels and Guides were genetically engineered and the Sentinels fought to be free because Guides were denied to them. When you’re that young and it’s the only thing you know you don’t have many dreams for your future. All I hoped for or dreamed for was a kind Sentinel.”

“For one brief moment you had hope and then I destroyed it. I’m sorry Blair. I was so stupid and naive.” Jim scoffed, “I just said it again, as insignificant a word it is I don’t know what else to say.”

“A word is inadequate to make up for hurt, I’m sorry I ran. I know now it was the wrong thing to do. We are bonded and you were right I didn’t trust our bond. I can feel that you’re sincere and how deeply you regret… Maybe we should both be blaming places like River Island. They turn Guides into automatons and make Sentinel’s think that’s what they need. It’s not what we need. You are right, we need a partnership with a strong healthy bond that we can both trust.”

Jim pulled Blair into a kiss. “I need you,” he said when he pulled back to look into the eyes Blair wore.

Blair stood up and pulled Jim up out of the sofa. “I need you too,” he whispered and pulled his body toward the loft stairs.  
******

The renewal of the bond was slow and oh so pleasurable for both Blair and Jim. They took their time exploring each other bodies. This time it was Jim that asked to be claimed. He could feel how much Blair’s body wanted it and needed it.

It was Blair that prepared his body for the renewal and then slid in. It felt as if every cell in Jim’s body was singing as their orgasm built. And then it happened, the dizzy, dancing twirl as Sentinel and Guide became lost in one another and they seemed to burst into a cosmos of stars. They clung to each other as the whirling feeling stopped.

Jim felt himself on top of the warm body of his Guide. “Blair?” he whispered as he ran his fingers through the thick curly hair.

“We’re back,” Blair said.

“I want you to know I meant everything I said, Chief. From now on we’re partners.”

“From now on we both trust in our bond.”

@@@@@@  
Epilogue  
@@@@@@

Six month later:  
News broadcast  
******

“If you’ve just turned in we are covering a breaking news story. River Island Guide Preserve was attacked sometime during the night. There are no bodies in the ruins so it is assumed that all the Guides were stolen and the building itself was destroyed. As you can see behind me there is nothing left but rubble. Simultaneously other Guide preserves across the country were hit and destroyed. A group that calls itself ‘The Sentinel Guide Brotherhood’ is claiming responsibility for the attacks and has released a statement that other Guide training facilities that specialize in selling highly conditioned Guides must immediately shut down their training facilities and their underground brothels, transfer their Guides to humane hospitals for treatment or they will suffer the same fate.”

*****

Blair took off his glasses and set them on the end table beside the sofa before cuddling into Jim’s arms. “I don’t think they’re going to listen,” he said as he nibbled at a warm oatmeal cookie.

“Maybe not this time,” Jim said. “But this is a fight that needs to be fought. We’re going to work on the legal front too. We need to get the laws changed and end Guide slavery.”

“I wonder what would have happened if we never changed bodies. I wonder if you would still be a part of this?”

“Gibbs had a plan to bring me in as soon as he could. Our difficulties just sped up his plan.”

“Would you have gone to him if you had known about his agenda?”

“He was the only one I believed could help me to figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. I was right about that. Even if I had known I still would have gone to him. Just like I’m with him and all my brother Sentinels now. Guides should be our partners not our slaves. I figured that out quickly enough when I saw how Gibbs and Tony were working together to find you. I realized it was something...more, and I wanted it.”

“It’s not going to be easy making Sentinels realize there’s more to a bond then dominance over their Guide,” Blair said as he looked up into Jim’s blue eyes.

Jim ran the back of his finger over Blair’s cheek. “Change never is, Chief, not when it has this much riding on it. But Sentinels tend to be tenacious. Everyday more Sentinels are learning the error of their ways and joining the Brotherhood. This is a fight we won’t give up on until we win.”

The End.


End file.
